Home Page
About SAEN
Articles and Reports
Contact Us
Events and Campaigns
Fact Sheets
Financial Information
How You Can Help
Make a Donation, Please!
Media Coverage
Newsletters
Petitions
Picture Archive
Press Releases
Resources and Links
Grass Roots Org. List
|
Stop Animal
Exploitation NOW!
S. A. E. N.
"Exposing the truth to wipe
out animal experimentation"
Fact Sheets
Animal Experimentation in the United States
A
Stop Animal Exploitation
NOW! fact
sheet
(Click here for
downloadable 8-1/2 X 11 fact sheet PDF)
The Facts About Animal Experiments
Animal experimentation is a scandal
that has been hidden from the American public. We have been lead to
believe that the animals used in experiments are well treated and that
the procedures that are performed on these animals are thoroughly
regulated and governed by federal laws. Nothing could be further from
the truth.
Over 90% of the animals
that are used in experimentation are purposely excluded from protection
under the Animal Welfare Act (the only federal law that governs
animal experimentation). Rats, mice, birds, and many other species have
been expressly eliminated from all safeguards.
There are no real restrictions on what can be done
to an animal during an experiment. Animals are routinely
subjected to addictive drugs, electric shock, food & water deprivation,
isolation, severe confinement, caustic chemicals, burning, blinding,
chemical and biological weapons, radiation, etc. The "scientist" in
question only has to say that a specific procedure is "necessary" for
the experiment, and it is allowed. The goal is not to protect the
animal; the goal is to insure that the experiment proceeds -- at any
cost.
The National Death Toll
Recent (fiscal 2000) United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics list a total of
1,416,643 primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and
other species as being subjected to experimental procedures. The species
by species listings include:
69,516 dogs
57,518 primates
258,754 rabbits
25,560 cats
174,146 hamsters
505,009 guinea pigs
66,651 pigs
23,934 sheep
69,129 other farm animals
166,429 other animals
However, this total is far from accurate. At no time
during the last 5 years have all laboratories in the U.S. reported their
experimental totals. The total of non-reporting facilities has varied
from 22 to 128 (out of approximately 1200). And since some specific
laboratories report using over 100,000 animals the omission of even 22
reports could be very significant.
The species that are not covered by the Animal
Welfare Act (rats, mice, etc.) are not even counted. Therefore the total
above ignores the majority of animals experimented upon in the U.S.
The real number of animals experimented on in the U.S. each year is
well over 20 million. Additionally, these statistics do not
cover animals that are caged in laboratories but are being held for
conditioning or breeding. In some instances these other animals can
comprise an additional 40% (or more) of the current totals. For example,
while the USDA reports the use of approximately 60,000 primates, as many
as another 40,000 may be imprisoned in breeding colonies.
Where Does the Money Come From?
Many different government agencies fund animal
experiments. These agencies include NASA, the Department of Defense, the
National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Department of
Agriculture, and the National Institutes of Health.
The National Institutes of Health (a part of the Department of Health
and Human Services) is one of the largest funding sources for animal
experimentation in the U.S. During fiscal 2001 the NIH funded
29,441 projects that involved experimentation on macaque monkeys,
squirrel monkeys, rats, mice, dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, and cats.
Trends in the use of these species indicate that animal experimentation
as a whole in the U.S. is increasing. Use of these species in NIH
funded projects has increased 18.3% in the last five years, 37.3% in the
last ten years. NIH funded experiments in these species cost U.S.
taxpayers approximately $8.5 billion annually.
Government Waste
How does the NIH manage to spend so much money on
animal experiments? Simple, the NIH pays for the same experiment
to be done over and over and over again. There are currently 170
projects that study neural information processing in macaque monkeys. 90
NIH funded projects study neural information processing in cats. 75
projects study cocaine in monkeys. 286 experiments study cocaine in
rats. 109 study cocaine in mice. The list goes on and on and on. Even if
this experimentation was worthwhile, why must we pay for it to be done
over and over and over again? Who wants this duplication to continue?
Simple (again), hundreds of institutions and
thousands of individuals make money from these experiments. Look at the
table of approximations below for some examples. The bottom line is that
the federal government currently supports an industry that squanders
billions of dollars, kills tens of millions of animals, and is
essentially unregulated. No experiment, no matter how painful, is
illegal. The majority of animals used in experimentation receive
absolutely no protection under current laws.
University of CA, San Francisco: $166,156,140
University of CA, Los Angeles:
$134,090,920
Harvard: $104,589,794
Johns Hopkins University: $185,978,276
Yale: $166,447,642
Stanford: $107,272,736
Vanderbilt: $103,774,712
Emory University: $118,185,010
Duke University: $107,564,238
Baylor: $137,297,442
University of Pennsylvania:
$211,338,950
University of Wisconsin, Madison:
$102,849,673
University of Washington, Seattle:
$157,702,582
University of Michigan: $170,237,168
What YOU can do to Fight Animal Experimentation:
1. Read, copy, and distribute
this fact sheet.
2. Contact your Senators and
Representatives to ask for these things:
A. Extend the protection of law to all species that
are the victims of experimentation.
B. Extend the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act
to prohibit:
The use of electric shock
Food and water deprivation
The use of extreme confinement, such as the
primate restraint chair
The Honorable ____________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
202-224-3121 www.house.gov
Senator ____________________
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
202-224-3121 www.senate.gov
3. Organize public events to expose abuses at
facilities in your area. Use the Stop
Animal Exploitation NOW! (SAEN) World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week
website http://www.all-creatures.org/wlalw/ to investigate labs in your
area. Contact SAEN for help with investigations or for event planning.
4. Write to your federal
legislators to request a General Accounting Office (GAO) investigation
of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded animal experimentation.
5. Send as large a
tax-deductible donation as you can afford to Stop Animal Exploitation
NOW! (SAEN) to support this campaign.
Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!
PMB 280, 1081-B St. Rt. 28, Milford, Ohio 45150 513-575-5517
[email protected]
Return to Fact
Sheets |